Jesse was the sheriff of a small southern town who was having trouble getting in the mood to have sex with his wife one night. His mind wandered to violent racist thoughts about having rough sex with a black woman. He was reminded of a horrific lynching he had witnessed as a child where a black man was tortured and killed. These thoughts aroused Jesse and he grabbed his wife to have rough sex with her as if she were a black woman. The story "Going to Meet the Man" by James Baldwin explores issues of racism and sexuality in the American South.